Eindhoven University Launches Volkswagen Electric Research Car

Apr 12 2011

Car finance drivers who are keenly following the latest developments in the electric car industry will be excited to hear that Eindhoven University of Technology has taken a Volkswagen Lupo and converted it into a vehicle to test the latest research in this field.

They launched the new car formally during the past week.  It combines a large 17kWh battery pack with a relatively low body weight of 1 060kg.  The range of the car is reported to be between 30% and 50% higher than current four-seater electric models available in the car finance market.

The top speed of the car is an impressive 81 miles per hour (about 130 kilometres per hour) and it can accelerate from 0 to 62 miles per hour in 12 seconds.

The revamped Volkswagen has been approved by the Dutch authorities and declared safe to drive on a public road.  It uses relatively low-cost (less than €300/kWh) lithium-iron phosphate Thundersky batteries.

The car will be used for an extensive range of research activities.  The university will use it to study vehicle and power train dynamics, energy consumption and battery efficiency.  The car will also be used for research into vehicle control software and in the development of a user-friendly interface to display information about the status of the car's various components.

The researchers also hope to learn more about issues such as electric power steering, in-wheel electric motors, full vehicle modelling, regenerative braking, efficient heating, component testing, range estimation and performance analysis.  Car finance drivers are not likely to soon see a production version of the new Volkswagen, but the technology that is developed in the process will sooner or later find its way into production cars.

Author - Louise Hutchinson
 

More from VOLKSWAGEN News

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---